Rent Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
4.0 of 5 from 153 ratings
2h 6min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton are ideal as malevolent marrieds Martha and George in first-time film director Mike Nichols' searing film of Edward Albee's groundbreaking 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'. Taylor won her second Academy Award (and New York Film Critics, National Board of Review and British Film Academy Best Actress Awards). Burton matches her as her emotionally spent spouse. And George Segal and Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner Sandy Dennis score as another couple straying into their destructive path. The movie won a total of five Academy Awards and remains a taboo-toppling landmark over 40 years later.
- Actors:
- Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, Sandy Dennis, Agnes Flanagan, Frank Flanagan
- Directors:
- Mike Nichols
- Producers:
- Ernest Lehman
- Writers:
- Ernest Lehman, Edward Albee
- Others:
- Haskell Wexler, Sam O'Steen, Richard Sylbert, Irene Sharaff, Alex North, George James Hopkins, George R. Groves
- Studio:
- Warner
- Genres:
- Classics, Comedy, Drama
- Collections:
- Acting Up: British Actors at the Oscars, Acting Up: British Actresses at the Oscars, Award Winners, BAFTA Nominations Competition 2023, BAFTA Nominations Competition 2024, BAFTA Nominations Competition 2025, Cinema Paradiso's 2024 Centenary Club: Part 1, Getting to Know..., Getting to Know: Vanessa Redgrave, Holidays Film Collection, Introducing the EGOT Crowd, Oscar Nominations Competition 2024, Oscar Nominations Competition 2025, Oscar's Two-Time Club, Oscars: Winners & Losers, Remembering Robert Redford, Romantic Film Pairings for Valentine's Day, A Brief History of Film..., The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to Wes Anderson, Top 100 AFI Movies, Top 100 AFI Passions, Top Films
- Awards:
1967 Oscar Best Supporting Actress
1967 Oscar Best Art Direction Black and White
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 03/05/2016
- Run Time:
- 131 minutes
- Languages:
- Castilian Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0, Czech Dolby Digital 2.0, English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, French Dolby Digital 2.0, German Dolby Digital 2.0, Latin American Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0, Polish Dolby Digital 2.0
- Subtitles:
- Castillian, Czech, English Hard of Hearing, French, German Hard of Hearing, Korean, Latin American Spanish, Polish, Romanian, Thai, Turkish
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.85:1
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Commentary by Directors Mike Nichols and Steven Soderbergh
- Commentary by Cinematographer Haskell Wexler
- Too Shocking for Its Time
- A Daring Work of Raw Excellence
- And More!
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Reviews (4) of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Campus Classic. - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? review by Steve
Faithful adaptation of Edward Albee's waspish Broadway sensation. It's hardly opened up from the stage and mostly set in George and Martha's rather scruffy campus residence as they take us on a tour of their esoteric fantasy life while they initiate a couple of new arrivals.
George (Richard Burton) is in history and married to Martha (ElizabethTaylor) the daughter of the university chancellor. They entertain an assertive biology teacher (George Segal), burdened by his frail, irksome, alcoholic wife (Sandy Dennis). The games the foursome play through the long, boozy night are irresistible.
And Albee's dialogue is intelligent and very funny. Burton and Taylor ruined the play for any other actors. This is her best performance, as the aggressive, insolent, yet hugely vulnerable woman stuck in middle age with an unambitious husband. He is particularly adept at the coruscating verbal sparring.
It's so much fun just watching the Burtons warming up in the opening scenes. What unfolds is astonishing. They are like two warring civilisations. Segal and Dennis are actually very good but they get blown away in the storm. This is a dazzling intellectual experience made definitive by its brilliant stars.
3 out of 3 members found this review helpful.
Truth or Illusion, Baby? - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? review by griggs
It starts as a late-night drink and ends as emotional trench warfare. Two couples, too much gin, and enough bile to flood a campus. The genius lies in how the verbal barbs—funny at first—slowly strip the characters to their rawest selves. You’re not watching a domestic spat; you’re watching psychological demolition.
Elizabeth Taylor is a revelation—vulgar, wounded, commanding. Richard Burton matches her blow for blow, delivering bitterness with a scholar’s precision. Their rhythm is brutal but mesmerising, like watching two people fight with antique silverware instead of fists.
The script is razor-sharp, soaked in spite and sadness. What’s really being argued isn’t always what’s being said, and the game they’re playing—truth or illusion—has no real winner. Or perhaps the only winner is the audience, left slack-jawed at the sheer audacity of it all.
A story about marriage, performance, and the lies we build just to get through the day. Brutal, brilliant, and weirdly beautiful.
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
Brilliant - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? review by JH
i saw this film years ago and was bored.Seeing it now has a totally new impact.Just goes to show how we change over time.
0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.